More from the City of Lights…

It’s so nice to be back in touch with the world! As you all know, I had some computer problems. The end result is that I’m writing this to you on a brand-new laptop, which my wonderful parents were kind enough to mail to me from the States. Although it was probably a good experience to be without a computer for a while, I must admit I’m very happy to have one again.

So, to catch everyone up…

I finished my first week of classes, which—computer problems aside—went very well. In my Parisian history class, the focus is on “reading the city” through its architecture. Last week we visited the Louvre—but we didn’t look at any art. Instead, we studied the structure of and under the building itself, and the many transitions they experienced. It was a fascinating new way to experience a museum!

Last weekend, I went on a school-arranged trip to Chartres, a small town famous for its cathedral, about an hour and a half outside of Paris. It snowed quite a bit while we were there. It was beautiful, but not really conducive to walking around. Actually, come to think of it, it has snowed almost every day of the past week. Tuesday night I was studying, and I looked up and saw a blanket of white out my window. The sight took my breath away.

Anyway, Chartres is a very peaceful, beautiful little place. And the cathedral, which is bigger than Notre Dame, is absolutely amazing. You could spend days looking at its huge collection of stained glass windows, and deciphering the Bible stories they tell. In fact, we took a tour given by a British man who has spent 50 years doing just that. He went to Chartres as a grad student to write his thesis on the cathedral, and just never left! But the cathedral’s real claim to fame—for almost the past millennium, in fact—is that it houses the veil of the Virgin Mary. Only a small piece of the veil remains today, but it was still an impressive sight.

Back in Paris, my weekdays aren’t quite as exciting now that I’ve started school, but this past Tuesday, I did go to a school-arranged fondue dinner in the Latin Quarter. It was wonderful! I’d never had fondue before, and I’ve discovered that not only does it taste fantastic, but it’s also really fun to eat! My friends and I all agreed that we will need to return to that restaurant before the semester is over.

On a side note, it’s official: I am more than a tourist here! I went into Les Artisans Café this morning (the café that my friends and I frequent, and the place I eat breakfast every Friday morning), and the server knew what I wanted without my having to order. I’m a regular at a café in Paris!

Tomorrow I’m going on another school-arranged day trip, this time to Versailles. The center here does a really great job of providing students with opportunities to see and do as many French things as possible; it’s really quite wonderful to not have to go through the huge effort of organizing a group of people on our own.

Until next time!